


Behind the Title

by CalyRose



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Angst, Drabble, F/M, Introspection, loss of self
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 13:44:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10968441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalyRose/pseuds/CalyRose
Summary: After Habitat 7 Calista Ryder struggles to find herself in the title left to her.





	Behind the Title

All Calista Ryder could hear after she woke in SAM node after dying was why was the rookie chosen for Pathfinder? If Alec Ryder had to die why did he choose her? Why not Cora Harper his Asari huntress-trained second who had trained and planned to follow in his footsteps for years. Now here Calista was standing in front of who was left of the Nexus and Initiative leadership and all she could hear was what remained unsaid. If a Ryder had to die on Habitat 7 it should have been Calista Ryder, the rookie, not Alec Ryder, the hero and Pathfinder.

Her rounds in Operations merely cemented that feeling with the Director of Operations, Addison, demanding to know what happened with Calista's father. Calling him Alec and demanding to know why he chose his rookie daughter. Reaffirming the dangerous thoughts that tumbled in Ryder's head that perhaps her survival had been a mistake. Her father had been the N7 hero and the trained Pathfinder.

The newest Pathfinder merely shoved those feelings down, locked the dark thoughts away, and threw herself into her new role. Eventually, the person Calista was faded and all there was to her was the role and title of the Pathfinder. Even her crew, all whom she loved dearly, saw the Pathfinder first and Calista second. Two things kept her from losing her identity completely, Scott and SAM. One her twin, who was in a coma and unable to be her rock as he had so many times back in the Milky Way and the other the AI so deep in her head that sometimes Calista wasn't sure where she ended and SAM began.

Then she came to Kadara and found the one person in all of Heleus who looked at her and saw Calista, not the Pathfinder. Reyes Vidal, a smuggler, and a shady bastard if ever there was one. The fact remained out of everyone and everything she had met and seen since coming to Andromeda and losing her father this shady bastard was the first to see the woman and not the title.

Calista no longer felt like dying, no longer felt like the wrong Ryder made it. Even after the reveal of his identity of being the Charlatan the woman was still attracted and in love with the man behind the title, just as the man was attracted and in love with the woman behind the title.

Looking into whiskey-colored eyes, held in strong arms, swaying to music that was over 600 years old, Calista started to believe that maybe, just maybe, the right Ryder had survived Habitat 7. Maybe, just maybe, with this man by her side, the man that saw the woman behind the title, she would not only survive this battle with the kett and whatever else Andromeda could throw at her but also thrive.

**Author's Note:**

> So this was inspired by a post I saw on Tumblr where it stated Ryder probably felt like it would have been better if s/he had died instead of Alec. Not much to it, more of a drabble than anything. It's also the first time I've written in over a year so hey anything like this is a step in the right direction for my writing.


End file.
